Thursday 28 February 2013

Digital Footprint

Well I'm happy to say that when I "google" myself- nothing horrifying pops up for anyone to see! I think the first thing that comes up when you get to the actual "me" is my old Hi5 account which hasn't been used in years. This does bring up the important point that everyone has been making though about the importance of always keeping your digital footprint in mind. I know that I didn't have a career in education in mind when I had that account, yet it is still searchable today. I think this is an important thing to teach our students- hopefully they can understand the importance of their digital footprint. I do think this will be hard to do, young kids especially but also teenagers might not be able to put it in perspective at a young age. (Or be able to consider the fact that actions that they take today can have an effect on their lives years down the road).

Our digital footprints, to me, are the scariest aspect of technology. It is a fun tool that is so often incredibly useful, yet one wrong move and it can be the end of a career or one of many other consequences. There have often been times that I have felt frustrated and considered deleting certain accounts, such as Facebook, but I almost wonder if that would be worse. At least right now I know that I am (hopefully) being tagged in any post about me or picture of me. Without an account I would have no idea what pictures, posts or other information was being posted online without my consent. So I figure it is better to keep the accounts!


I do think that I need to work on more of a digital footprint for myself that reflects my future as a teacher. I would like a principal to be able to google me and find information that reflects my knowledge in the field of education. For this reason I am excited that we were able to take this course a year early, I now have some more tools that I can use for my digital footprint. I'm definitely leaving this class with a lot of good food for thought- and lots to work on over the next year!

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